Ball is Life
by EmperorV14
Summary: Ogiwara Shigehiro thought that the life of a basketball player was in his past. But obviously fate had different plans for him. Now he must struggle to balance his renewed love for Basketball, and hopefully keep his sanity despite the best efforts of the Generation of Miracles and his new teammates.
1. Prologue

**Hey guys! Hope you like this more, personal take on a Kuroko no Basuke story. As the summary suggests, there will be a fair bit of OC's in this story, but don't worry. Kuroko and the gang will still be in this story.**

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"Hey…how was the game?" I shifted in his seat to face his mother and shrugged. "Come on now. Tell me." Again, I just shrugged, not really feeling like it. My little brothers were asleep in the backseat and I kinda felt like joining them. Not in the backseat, just in the land of sleep. "Okay fine. Go to sleep. Tell me when you wake up."

I nodded, leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. The drone of the car's engine the only sound. Then, and only then, I drifted off into sleep. The game. It was a couple of hours ago. The Winter Cup Finals. Seirin. Rakuzan. Kuroko versus Akashi. For the first time in a long time, I had felt excited about basketball.

The game itself…even I had thought that Seirin would lose. And lose badly too. It hurt to see Kuroko like that. Ready to finally…give up. And then I stood up. And cheered loudly. Soon others in the crowd began to cheer for Seirin as well. Putting their belief into Seirin. And it did the trick. To say that I was amazed would be an understatement. 10 points in one minute. It was no 8 points in 9 seconds, ala Reggie Miller. It was no 13 points in 35 seconds, like Tracy McGrady. But…it was still an amazing thing to witness.

For some inexplicable reason, I felt a sudden surge to play basketball again, that one moment. But it washed away. Though not as quickly as it would have a year ago. I could never play basketball again. Never again. But maybe…No. I couldn't even entertain the thought. The last time that I had touched a basketball was in gym class. And when I did, I wished that I didn't. Because the moment the ball and my hands made contact with each other, I felt faint. I felt himself begin to shake. And then I almost fainted.

It wasn't supposed to be that bad. But then again, that was over a year ago. Maybe I could finally touch a ball without starting to shake. Then again, why would I even touch a basketball? My new school had been notified of my…Affliction.

The only thing that could make me play basketball would be to force me. And that would just make me hate basketball even more. Well, not hate. Hate is a strong word. Maybe too strong of a word to use. No, I didn't hate basketball anymore. I could never bring myself to hate the sport that I loved so much. Heck, I even brought a ball to the game! To prove to Kuroko that I no longer hat-disliked basketball.

It was morning when I had awoke from my musings. Though it was the racket that my younger siblings were making that actually woke me up. Not my body's natural clock telling me to wake. I shrunk back into seat as my mother shoved a sandwich in front of my face.

"Here. Eat up. We should arrive in Fukuoka by…I think lunch? Yeah, by lunch. Your dad should have everything set up by then." I nodded wordlessly and munched my sandwich silently. After finishing the last few crumbs, I looked all around the car. "You need something Hiro?"

"Yeah…Where's the milk?" My mother shrugged.

"No clue."

My youngest brother, Hiruto reached into a side compartment and pulled out a carton of milk. "Thank you."

"Your welcome!" Hiruto said, brimming with excitement. I could only smiled back.

Shizune Ogiwara smiled down at me, her eldest, reached down into the open bag of peanuts and pulled out a handful. She then clicked on cruise control and popped in a couple of peanuts before ruffling my hair. "Mom!"

"What? Anyways…" Shizune turned her gaze from the road for a split second to look at me. "What happened at the game? The radio's been talking about it non-stop, and I need to know more!"

I frowned. The radio? Why would the radio be talking about a high school basketball game? Was it seriously that important? "I can't really tell you what happened at the beginning though."

"Because I dropped you off late." Shizune looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry about that by the way."

"It's fine. Anyways when I got there, it was the fourth quarter. Rakuzan had a 20 point lead. It wasn't looking good. Some people were already leaving. I couldn't believe it. And then in only a matter of minutes, Seirin cut the lead to just ten."

"But then…Akashi entered the zone."

"Zone?"

"Ah…The Zone is a special state of mind that allows a player to use 100 % of their brain's power."

My mother scoffed. "Come on. You believe that, 'we only use 10% of our brain' bullshit? I thought you were smarter than that." I stared at my mother with a blank face. "Continue."

"A-anyways, Akashi got into the zone and it seemed like the game was over right then and there. Akashi seemed unstoppable and he was doing everything. Blocking, scoring. He was a one man team. I didn't think it was possible to beat him…but…Kuroko…he did it." I felt myself begin to smile. "He stopped Akashi. Somehow."

"And then what happened? Seirin won?"

I nodded. "They did, but even after Kuroko stopped Akashi…Rakuzan still had a pretty sizable lead. Though it seemed that Akashi lost his cool and Seirin manage to close the gap. Giving Rakuzan only a 2 point lead."

"So then Seirin won?"

"Well, I don't know what happened during the timeout but, Rakuzan managed to get the lead back up to 10. Somehow. Somehow. And then…I…I uh…" Shizune gave me a smile.

"And then you did what, Hiro?"

My lips spread into a large grin. "I stood up, and called out to Kuroko. Telling him that I believe in him. I don't know how Kuroko even heard me, but he did. I certainly didn't expect him to cry. And I did not expect anyone to go along with me. But, a ton of other people stood up and began to cheer as well, putting all our faith in Seirin. And I guess it worked." My mother laughed and patted me on the back.

"Well good for you! It must've felt good right?" I smiled and nodded. "Do you know what would feel even better? Driving the rest of the way to Fukuoka so that you dear old mother can rest after driving for 10 hours." A nervous laugh escaped my lips as Shizune pulled over and got out. "Well? Switch with me. It's freezing out here you know! You got your driver's license didn't ya?"

With a sigh, I zipped up my jacket and got into the driver's seat and began to drive. Grumbling the whole time. Soon enough I could see the Fukuoka skyline, with Fukuoka Tower standing prominently along the shoreline. I could feel it become warmer and warmer the closer they got to the city. By the time we had reached the city limits, I had taken off my jacket.

"Hey mom. Which ward is our new house located in again?"

"Nishi-Ku. It's on the other side of the city though. And if this traffic doesn't get a move on we won't get to our new house till it's a quarter after 2, by my estimates." A groan escaped my lips and pressed on the breaks as the light turned red. _Just as I was about to get across._

And as it turned out, my mom was right. Our new house was at the corner of a fairly busy street, with some traffic. Though a metro was pretty close by. Only a 10 minute walk at most. The house was almost like a palette swapped version of the house across, red and gold. And the one beside. As well as the one behind it. With a loud screech I parked the car into the drive way.

"Ugh! Finally!" My younger brother, Ogiwara Kensho stumbled out of the car and onto his back. Sighing, my mother lifted my youngest brother up by the collar and set him on his feet. "Come on Hiru! Let's see our room!" The 2 boys ran off into the house, which for reasons I didn't know, was unlocked and disappeared into the depths of the house. The sound of their still squeaky voices echoing.

I yawned loudly, my arms stretching out. "Man. I'm tired. And hungry. I'll probably go to sleep after dinner." I stopped short of the door when Shizune grabbed me by the shoulder. "Yes mom?"

"After you help me unpack, alright?" And so I did. Box after box. Roll upon roll of duct tape. Bag after bag full of clothes, and other accessories. I didn't know why there were 5 separate containers of food, yet there were. There was also a…basketball hoop in one of the bags. Disassembled of course.

"Hey mom! Why is there a hoop here?" She smiled and winked. "That…doesn't answer my quest-Okay then. I'll just take it out back I guess." I hefted the box up onto my shoulder and made my way out back. The backyard of our new house was bigger than my old one, with a fence separating our house from the next one. My father was waiting for me next to the car he used to get to Fukuoka in the garage.

Ogiwara Taro wasn't a big man. Heck, I was already taller than he was, at 188 cm tall. Though I do have to say that my father was may more defined than I was. Guess that's what happens when your job requires you to have good upper body strength. His hair wasn't dark brown like mine was, but rather it was a very light shade of red. I was the only one of their kids that had mom's orange hair.

"Hey kiddo. How'd the drive go?" dad asked me as I set the box down. A good chunk of our backyard was concrete. Seeing as how the grill was already set up and cooking something up, I could guess that dad specifically got this house because of the large space he would get for his weekly barbeques. "Let me guess, your mom made you drive most of the way to Fukuoka?"

"Um…I'm not really sure, but mom did make me drive the last leg of the trip, because she was getting tired, and used the fact that I recently got my driver's license to full advantage." I replied dryly as I handed the backboard over to my dad who layed it out on the concrete. "But, otherwise, the trip was really good. Got a good night's sleep and all that jazz. Though the sandwich I had for breakfast was kind of cold though. Then again, they were prepared last night, so I guess I can't really blame the sandwich for being cold."

After a good minute or so, the hoop was fully assembled. It looked like a 10 foot rim alright, with a golden rim and a red net. I heard the bouncing of a ball and to my utter surprise, my heart didn't immediately start beating faster. I turned my head and saw my two siblings run out of our new house, a red, white and blue basketball in their hands. For a while, I stood there watching them as they played, while my dad went out front to do what I had said I was, and help my mom finishing unpacking.

Hiruto threw the ball up as Kensho wrapped him up. The ball bounced off of the backboard and rolled its way towards me. I picked it up and was very puzzled when my body didn't start to shake as soon my hand touched the rubber of the ball. I tilted my head slightly, confused. My two brothers looked at each other and ran towards me.

I felt a smile form on my face as I began to dribble the ball. "Try and stop me." I hadn't dribbled a ball in a long time. A very long time. I was rusty, but my little brothers were too small to stop me as I drove to the rim and layed the ball in. "Too small."

Soon enough, by the time I went to my room for the first time, the sun had set. I lay on my new bed, with my laptop on my…you guessed it, lap. I was currently on my new school's website. Shizou High was one of the top schools in the whole _region_. And apparently their basketball team was also really good. In fact, they'd made the Nationals 6 times in a row, and they made it to the National Finals 2 out of those 6 times. I don't know why this fact interested my so much. It's not like I was going to even think about trying out for the team. Besides, a team this good probably didn't need me anyways.

With a sigh, I turned my laptop off and set it aside on my bedside desk, turned lamp on the desk off and pulled up my sheets and drifted off to the land of dreams to the sound of my dad's backyard barbeque.

The light poured into my room as a new day dawned. I groggily turned my head to the loud and annoying digital clock on my bedside table. There was only 1 week left till 2016 came, and only 3 months before the Start of the Nationals. I wasn't going to be doing much in this last week of school at Shizou High, seeing as how I just got here, aside from touring the school and getting to know the way to my classes and getting to know my classmates and teachers.

I quickly showered and dressed in a black shirt and white pants before making my way downstairs to the dining room. Hiruto and Kensho were eating their breakfast quietly, and across the table, my mom was reading the newspaper, a coffee mug in hand. Both of my parents were very westernized, preferring an American style breakfast over a traditional Japanese breakfast. Though, every so often, instead of the usual bacon and eggs, we would have some white rice, miso soup and maybe some natto.

Mom looked up from her newspaper as the sound of my footsteps reached her ears. "Morning Hiro. You excite to go to school?" I shrugged my head. "Yeah, I didn't think so either. So that's why I made some pancakes this morning. And you know what? We got some 100% Canadian Maple Syrup from your Aunt Kurumi in Canada!" I made a fake cheer sound as I brought the bottle of maple syrup out of the fridge, grabbed a plate of pancakes and sat down beside my mom.

"Shigehiro." I turned to look at my dad was eating some bacon. "Do you want a ride to your new school? Because the traffic in the mornings here is really bad, and I don't want you to be late for your first day at your new school."

"Nah, its fine. I looked up the metro route to Shizou and it's not even really that far. It's maybe a 20 minute walk at most and a 15 minute walk if I go fast." I looked up from my breakfast and glanced at the clock above the sink. _7:50._ "Hmm…I should probably leave at 8:20 then. Or maybe I could go early."

"I'd suggest you go early son, because if you leave at 8:20 you'll be the only one here, because Hiruto and Kensho's school is the all the way across town." I shrugged and finished my pancakes as fast as possible, while still eating like a normal human being.

Soon after, I grabbed a hoodie and pulled it over my head, donned Shizou High's white blazer grabbed my single-strap backpack, pulled on a pair of black socks, and put on my shoes. "See ya later mom, dad!" I called out, plugging my earbuds in. I would never admit it to anyone, but AKB48 was my guilt pleasure. That and Gackt. Though Supercell had to be my favourite band still. I hummed My Dearest by Supercell under my breath as I walked briskly through the streets of Fukuoka.

And then all of a sudden, I was hit in the head by a basketball. By no means did it hurt, but the force of it all left my left ear ringing. I could barely make out the sound of a voice apologizing for hitting me in the head. I turned to see a teen around my age with black hair, and unusually bright green eyes. The most noticeable thing about him was that he was wearing the Shizou High Uniform, which while similar to Rakuzan in design, was different in colour scheme. Which instead of being white and teal, was white and gold.

"Hey man! Sorry about that. I was just shooting some hoops before school starts, and I guess I missed the entire fucking backboard and hit you in the head. Sorry about that."

"Oh no, it's fine. It was also partly my fault for not paying attention." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "But I noticed that you go to Shizou High."

He laughed. "Yeah, I noticed you were wearing the uniform, but I was pretty sure that I've never seen you before. Are you transfer student?" I nodded my head and the smile on his face grew. "Great! I always like meeting new people." He then looked to the way I was walking and raised an eyebrow. "You're walking to Shizou? Dude, its only 8:10, unless you're in a club, which I know you aren't, you aren't allowed to be even inside the complex."

"I mean, I kind of knew that, but I never really even thought about it. I just thought that if I showed up early, I'd get a tour of the building or something."

"Well, you'd have gotten a tour of the place anyways." I shrugged. "Oh…um…I didn't catch your name by the way."

"Hmm, oh I'm Ogiwara Shigehiro."

He grinned. "I'm Kumagawa Kizashi. Nice to meet ya." I smiled and shook his hand. I never had that many friends really. I don't know why, but I always had a hard time making friends. I don't know why. But whatever. New city, new me right?

As it turns out, we weren't allowed in to the complex. 'Told ya so.' So the two of us decided to go to the court that was nearby. Under normal circumstances, I would've done my best to stay away from something like that, but I just wanted to test something out. It was good thing that the court was currently empty right now. Though there was a fairly large puddle left over from the rain a couple of days back, from my estimate.

With a sigh Kumagawa set his bag down on a bench and took his blazer off, folded it and set it aside before finally rolling his sleeves. He grinned at me and began to the dribble the ball before shooting it. I watched his form, the way his body never stopped moving during his shooting motion, the way Kumagawa held his follow through, the way his feet tilted to the side, the way his hips tilted to become aligned with the basket. As far I knew, Kumagawa's form was picture perfect, and the ball snapping through the hoop all the more confirmed that to me.

He gave me a grin and turned to me before passing me the ball behind his back. I reflexively caught the ball with my left hand. Kumagawa face morphed into an expectant look. I shrugged and shot the ball from my spot. Somehow, I managed to bank the ball into the hoop. Kumagawa caught the ball and in air and tipped it back in.

I stayed back and Kumagawa would pass me the ball, and I would shoot it. By the time that it was time to go to school, Kumagawa was drenched in sweat. Me? Not so much really. I was just off at the three point line, bombing away, so I can't really say that I broke a sweat.

Kumagawa clicked his tongue and made a satisfied sound as he donned his blazer and put his backpack "You're pretty decent you know that?" Again, I thought nothing of it and just shrugged. "You know, the team could use a guy like you. You're kinda tall, and you're a decent enough shooter."

Shaking my head, I pulled open the door to the school. "Uh…not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't want to. You get me?"

"Aw well, it was worth a try. But, try to reconsider my offer will you? Anyways, seeing as how I'm probably the only person you know at this school, I'll take you to homeroom." I stopped by the locker number that was on my time table and waited for Kumagawa, who walked off, to return after he realizes that he doesn't even know what my homeroom is, Not even 10 seconds later, Kumagawa turned around and walked back towards me with an embarrassed looked on his face. "About that thing about your homeroom…Ah…What is your homeroom?"

"Class 2-B."

My new friend's face lit up. "Well, what a coincidence, that's my homeroom! Come on then! Let's go!"

Why did I feel like this was all just some big cosmic joke being played on me? Oh why?

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 **I do not own Kuroko no Basuke as should be evident.**


	2. A New School, New Friends: Part 1

**A New School, New Friends: Part 1**

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I waited outside the classroom patiently as the students began to settle in. Some of them saw me and observed me with curious eyes. My new teacher was already inside, typing away on her laptop. As soon as the bell rang however, she closed her laptop immediately and stood up and addressed her students. I wasn't even really paying attention to what she was saying until her head popped out the door.

"Alright, Ogiwara-kun, come on in."

Stuffing my hands into the pockets of my blazer and strolled into the classroom. Immediately, everyone turned their gaze to me. Some more in curiosity, whilst others were very analytical. One particular girl with a red streak in her midnight black hair was staring at me like I was a chess board or Rubik's Cube.

Sitting at the front of the room, beside the window and just in front of the teacher's desk was Kumagawa, who was waving at me excitedly. The teacher coughed and I realized that I had just been standing in front of the classroom looking around.

"O-oh, right. Um…I'm Ogiwara Shigehiro, please take care of me!" Everyone else responded with an automated response, with only some of them actually meaning it. The only one who didn't say anything at all was the girl. Throughout the whole ordeal she had just been staring at me like I was a really hard minesweeper level.

"Alright, Ogiwara-kun there's an empty seat behind Kumagawa-kun. That'll be your spot until after winter break. Got that. Now settle down everyone!" The rest of class went by quick. Like, really quick. But that must have been because I was having a wonderful time actually. Not. It felt like forever, with Kumagawa constantly at my back, yapping about this and that that thing and what he did this weekend what he was planning on doing during winter break, not only that, but that girl kept staring at me the whole time!

Halfway through class our teacher Ms. Yuzuki brought Kumagawa outside to have a talk with him. I thought that she was berating him or telling him to leave me alone, but no, when Kumagawa re-entered the classroom with a grin on his face stretching ear to ear. _Oh that's not good. That's not good at all._

Kumagawa then went around me and walked over to the girl. The girl's face broke out into a wide grin of her own as Kumagawa whispered something into her ear. Afterwards the two of them looked at me and I felt a shiver run down my spine. _Just my luck. Hopefully this isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be._

After class I hurriedly tried to make my way to my second class. Too bad I didn't know where it was, and as it turns out Kumagawa thought of that as he was waiting for me at my locker. Standing beside him was the girl.

"Um…Hello, I'm Ogiwara Shigehiro."

She stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Kawasaki Yume! Nice to meet you! But just call me Yume." I couldn't help but flush at the abrupt contact as Yume pulled me into a sudden hug. "Anyways, Kizashi-kun here was telling me that he's been assigned to be your…guide of sorts. But since he himself still gets lost around the place, I'm here to help. So if you have any questions feel free to ask! Don't be afraid." Yume leaned forward and smiled slyly. "I won't bite."

I flinched and she threw her head back in a hearty laugh. Beside her Kumagawa rolled his eyes and tugged at my blazer. "Come on. I'll show you around, then you can head to your next class. What is your next class anyways?"

After taking a quick glance at my time table, I looked back up at Kumagawa. "Um…Physics in room 3C." Yume's grin grew even wider.

"Well whadaya know! I have that same class! Give me your time table, we might share some more of the same classes!" Without even asking for my permission or before I could even react, Yume quickly snatched the paper from my hand and began to analyze my paper. "Well, well…Seems we have the same schedule here. After science, we got phys. Ed, and then lunch and then math class, that sounds fun right? And we got English last. You learning English? How good are you at it?"

"Well, my family and I spend ours summers in San Francisco, so I kinda have to be somewhat fluent in English. So to answer your question, yeah, I'm good at speaking English."

Yume grinned once more. "Would you say you're the best?"

"What? What does that have to with anything?"

She let out a whistle. "Oh nothing."

Kumagawa moved beside me and nudged my side. "Yeah, she's gets really anal when someone's better than her at something. So don't think too much of it. Anyways, it seems that Yume-chan has the whole, school guide thing on lockdown, so I guess I'll hand her the reigns." Kumagawa then looked down at his watch before starting to walk away. "Well, Gotta scramble Ogiwara-san, I'll see ya in math class!" and disappeared around the corner.

He seemed like a nice guy. Kinda hyperactive and tiring, but a nice guy nonetheless. I got the feeling that he would become more tolerable. Beside me Yume had finished analyzing my paper and had somehow slipped it into my bad without me noticing. I looked at her puzzled, and she merely smiled at me.

"Come on Ogiwara-kun. Let's get to class." I nodded and closed my locker.

"So where is class 3C anyways? I mean, it's probably upstairs." I asked, trying to make some small talk. Yume giggled and I felt some sweat form on my forehead.

"Yeah, it's upstairs." She then point up the stairs where we currently going up. "After these stairs you go left and then you take the 2nd right. That's class 3C. It shouldn't be too hard to remember, so don't worry about it. Anyways, where are you from Ogiwara-kun?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're a transfer student and students don't normally transfer in the middle of school unless they've had a change of scenery. Shizou High is one of the best high schools in Fukuoka, both academically and athletically so distance doesn't really matter unless you live out of the city. But even then the school has dorms nearby, so again distance isn't really a problem. The only other reasons would be that you were bullied or you were a problem child for your school, neither of which really seem to fit the way you've been acting so far. That eliminates every possibility except a change in scenery." Yume smiled slyly and showed me her notebook where she made a sketch of me with a bunch of stats written down on the side. My height, my hair and eye colour, my posture. All the way down to my speech patterns.

Yume was smart. The fact that she could estimate my height exactly was kinda terrifying and amazing at the same time. "Um…Yeah, I just moved to Fukuoka yesterday because my dad got a promotion in his job and he got relocated to Fukuoka. Nothing to do with my behaviour or my relationship with other people."

"Where does your dad work? Is he some kind of corporate suit?"

"Hmm…Not really. He works for Nintendo and he got reassigned to Fukuoka. Good thing about having a dad work for one of gaming's Big Three is that I get early access to games and demos." A smile worked its way onto my lips. "You wanna see the new Zelda game?" I saw Yume's eyes flash in curiosity before returning to their normal green.

"Nah, maybe later."

Physics class again passed rather quickly. As class ended, I began putting my papers into my bag when I noticed Yume making her way from all the way in the back of the room. I stood up and waited for Yume to reach me.

"Ya ready to go to gym class?"

I nodded. Gym class was probably going to be the only class that wasn't going to be full of rules, expectations, and code of conduct, course overviews and all that boring stuff. From what I'd heard from Yume, the entire week before winter break was just an open gym where we could choose to do whatever we wanted as long we were exerting outselves.

The gym was huge. It was definitely larger than my last school's gym. Numerous banners were displayed all over the walls and just above the entrance to the gym itself. Most of the banners I noticed were basketball related. 5 National championships during the 90's, 2 during the early 00's, and 8 straight finals appearances. Though apparently last year was the end of that streak when the team ran into the eventual champions in the first round.

I shook my head and made my way to the changing room. Just thinking about basketball made me long to feel the rubber. To feel the great sensation of making a three pointer. Most of the guys seemed to notice, me the new guy and looked in my direction with curiosity before quickly changing going off to be with their friends. Though there was one guy whose gaze lingered on me. His eyes had the same look in them that Yume's did.

Our supervisor was off to the side watching us intently under the cover of looking at a sports magazine. _Seriously? They already have a magazine of the Seirin's Winter Cup victory? Agh…Why am I surprised again?_

Yume was off to the side and again, I felt my face turn red. She was beautiful I have to admit and hey gym clothes didn't exactly hide much of her extremely long legs and her curves. She must have caught me looking and winked at me.

Shaking my head, I made my way over to the basketball racks. I noticed however that most of the guys were off playing badminton or ping pong or volleyball. There were only 3 guys that were actually playing basketball. Including myself. Most of the girls were actually playing a sport, mostly badminton or were running on the track outside, and not hugging the wall and just talking amongst each other. Though admittedly there were also some girls doing that here as well.

I stood at the three-point line and took a shot. The ball was short and hit the front of the rim and bounced off to the side. _Should've held my follow through just a bit longer. Hmm, I think I also might've released the ball a little early_. I could feel a gaze on me as I jogged to the ball. Turning my head to the side I spotted the guy from before looking at me intently. It was then that I noticed Yume standing beside him notebook in hand. She shot me another smile and gestured for me to continue with what I was doing before.

Sighing, I dribbled the ball up to the half court line before turning around and dribbling to the three point line where I promptly pulled up and drained the shot, remembering to keep my follow through.

Quickly grabbing the ball, I made my way back up to the three point line. I did a quick crossover to the left and then shot a fade away jumper from just inside the arc. Yume let out a satisfied sound as she wrote something down on her notebook.

It was like this for a good chunk of the class, Yume taking notes as I, in a sense, showed off my plethora of moves that I hadn't used in a long time. As expected, most of them didn't go in, though none of them were air balls aside from the one moving three that I took. But then again, unless you were Midorima or Mibuchi or Steph Curry, there was a slim chance that a moving three would go in. I don't know why, but I just felt compelled to see if I was just as good as I was back before…the incident.

As I pulled up for a shot from the free throw line, I heard someone come up from behind me. I paid it no mind though and went through the motions. Right as the ball left my hand, someone smacked the ball out of the air. Landing a few feet away from me was again the dude from before. He had black close cropped hair and bright blue eyes. "Um…Can you give me back the ball please?" I got the feeling that he wasn't about to do that.

"What's your name?"

"Ah…Um…I'm Ogiwara Shigehiro? And can you please give me the ball back, I kinda want to continue shooting some hoops."

"You will. Against me. Your ball." He tossed me the ball back, and I frowned.

"Um…No. I…I don't think so, I'm just gonna enjoy shooting some hoops by myself. It's a nice offer and all, but I'm fine by myself. Maybe later." _Or not at all. Yeah that would be good. That would be really nice. Yeah, I'd prefer not to do this at all._

"No. If you even manage to score against me once I'll leave you alone, how's that sound? We got a deal?" That did sound nice, but I would've preferred not to do this at all, but I don't think that this guy was taking no for an answer.

I sighed and nodded my head slowly. "Can I at least get your name? I want to at least know who's going to kick my ass."

"Homura Reki. And thank you for reconsidering my offer." I scoffed and backed up to just behind the three point line. "Now let's begin."

 _Tch. There's no holes in his defense. That I can see anyways. His reach seems pretty long. Long enough that I won't be able to go around him. Maybe I can break him down and get a clean look off._ I narrowed my eyes and did a quick hesitation move to the right, before crossing over to the left as quickly as possible. I may have lost my footing, but I managed to recover. I frowned as Homura was on me real quick.

Stepping back, I took a moment to think about what to do next. Homura was a good defender that much I could tell. I could also tell that he wasn't even trying his best to guard me. My first step simply wasn't fast enough to blow by him and my handles weren't as good as they used to be and his footwork was stellar. There's simply no way I would be able to break him down. So my best bet was to see if I could drain a shot from the outside.

Inhaling deeply, I did a hesitation move. Homura saw this and backed up slightly, giving me some space to shoot. I hopped up from the balls of my feet, giving me some extra lift. I brought the ball up to my forehead and released it. I consciously held my follow through this time and watched as the ball clanked off the back of the rim.

Homura jumped up and brought the ball back down with one hand. I rushed forward and tried to snatch the ball out of his hand. He must've seen me coming though and spun around me to the just in front of the three point line and shot a fade away. It was nothing but net. "Nice shot."

"Thanks."

I received the ball at the top of the key and did a quick jab step. Homura didn't fall for it at all and instead moved closer slightly, cutting off any chance of me driving by him. Instead, I entered the post and put Homura against my back. I then began to back him in. No good, Homura got low and pushed against me with all his weight.

I wasn't good enough to spin around him like Shaq with his famous black tornado, and my hook was trash. My only hope was to fade away, or somehow get Homura on a fake and drive to the basket. I slightly move my shoulders towards the basket trying to get a reaction, but nothing. I then pivot on my left foot and did a pump fake. As I brought the ball into the air, Homura reached in and snatched the ball from my hand. _Damn, he's quick, I wasn't even able to get my fake off!_

"That's enough. I got enough data Reki-nii." Yume called out. "Besides, it's almost time to change anyways." Homura nodded and tossed me the ball back before walking back to the locker room. Yume smirked at me. "Gotta admit, you'd make a nice addition to our team."

"Team? Student council or something? Sorry, not my thing."

"Oh no, I'm the manager, and scout and trainer of the basketball team. It's my job to scout out to every freshman and see if they're a good fit. I'm also the one who supervises the tryouts. I'm also the one who goes to other schools to try and recruit players and, as the name implies, I plan the team's training. So basically I'm the coach in everything but name and knowledge of strategy and rotations and all that stuff. And from the looks of it, you have some skill. Though, you seem kinda rusty. When was the last time you played against someone one on one? Or even touched a basketball? You were kinda just running on muscle memory alone out there."

"Oh...Maybe a year and a half, give or take a few weeks. I wasn't that bad was I?"

Yume shook her head. "No, it just seemed to me that judging by your movements you were obviously part of a team. Your jab step was too good to be just something that you picked up from watching basketball games. Plus, streetballers would just try to straight up break Reki-kun's ankles or put him in the spin cycle. No you recognized that you wouldn't be able to blow by Reki-kun at all, so you just settled for a jump shot."

"What are you trying to say here?"

"I'm trying to say that you could've been very good if you had kept up your skills. I don't know why you decided to stop, but you could've been the ace of a team you know."

I almost snorted at the thought. Even if she was right and kept honing my skills, I wouldn't have ever been good enough to even think about challenging the Miracles, let alone being a school's ace. Though the thought of training as hard as I could and joining a good team to try and beat the Miracles had crossed my mind, I decided against. There's simply no way for a normal person to beat the Generation of Miracles. "Well, I don't know about that. I could've been a decent starter and definitely a good bench player, but definitely not an ace. I think you're getting me mixed up with someone else here."

Yume scoffed. "Please, I've been around enough good players to know that you could've easily been as good if not better than them. I don't know what happened that made you stop playing but know this, whatever made you think that you can't be a good player, was wrong. Or you gave up too easily. Either way, you can be a good player at this school. I can get you up to your previous level of skill and maybe even get you above that level. I can do that."

"That's a nice offer, but I'll have to respectfully decline. I can't play basketball. At least not with a team anymore. And it's not because I think I'm better than them, I'll just hold them back. I'll be a liability. You wouldn't want someone like me on your team."

Again Yume scoffed. "You're selling yourself short. But I can see that you won't budge on this decision. Can you at least consider trying out for the team? We're dangerously undermanned and our Ace is off in New York doing god knows what. We'll need all the manpower we can get. So please at least reconsider my offer. Come by sometime after school this week. After that, I won't bother you anymore because our training camp starts during the break."

"I get it. Now can we please get to the cafeteria, I'm really hungry."

I passed by the giggling Yume and began making my way to the changing room. "Can you please wait for me outside? Thank you." I called out before disappearing into the room.

 _Join their basketball team eh? Can I really do that again? Can I really stand on the same courts as the Miracles?_

* * *

The rest of the day went by without any hitches. With a sigh, I pulled off my shoes and placed them in my locker before grabbing my outside shoes. Today was boring. It was nothing but rules, expectations how I should behave and a ton of homework assigned. Presumably to catch me up or something. The only entertaining parts of the day was phys. Ed class and lunch time.

I noticed that Yume didn't hang out with any other girls except for her best friend, or who I assume was her best friend. Though we had only passed by her in the halls, so I couldn't really get a good grasp on their relationship. Yume lead me to a table outside in the school's courtyard. I took out the bento my mother had prepared for me and finished eating quickly. Yume simply ate a sandwich. During the entire period we discussed basketball.

"So which is your favourite team?" She asked me.

"Well, I used to be a big fan of the Kings until they started to suck ass, kinda sucks to see Boogie playing for a terrible organization, but to answer your question though, I hopped onto the Warriors hype train."

"Ah, so you're a bandwagoner. Never would've expected that. Watch out though Kizashi-kun's Clippers might upset your boy Steph."

"I'll have you know that I've been a fan of the Warriors since 2012 when they were finally getting good. I bet you're just a salty LeBron fangirl."

"Pssh, hell no, OKC all the way!" Yume exclaimed, taking a sip from her water bottle. "If KD wasn't injured last season we would've made it to Western Conference Finals at the least. I can't say if we would've beaten the Dubs though."

"If the Thunder were healthy last year they would've been at least the 2 seed or 4 seed minimum. Warriors still would've won the Championship though"

"All right enough what if scenarios." Yume took out an apple. "Next question. Who's your favourite player not named Stephen Curry."

"How'd you know Chef Curry's my favourite player?" Yume shot me a pointed look. "Alright, fine, Dwayne Wade. Dude's still a beast despite all the injuries. If he and Bosh had been healthy the whole year, they would've made the playoffs at least. What about you?"

"KD. Dude's the best scorer in the League. People seem to forget that KD was the MVP in 2014. People also seem to forget that he's a 4 time scoring champ, plus he's been the clutchest player since he entered the League."

It was like this for the whole period. The rest of the classes, as I said before were nothing but a blur. Though math class even more of a chore than my last school's class. Our teacher…wasn't a good teacher to say the least. Oh the other students would've disagreed because 'Sensei gives us Ice Cream!' and 'Sensei lets us work in groups with our friends! You're just jealous because you don't have any friends!' And to those I say: Wrong.

She's just wants to be called a good teacher without actually being one. Math class was the second class of the day where I didn't get bombarded with rules and expectations, as we dove right into the group work. She didn't even tell us anything except to do pages 314 up to 316. Immediately everyone split off into the cliques.

On one side were the popular kids who seemed to actually be working on the assignment while talking at each other at the same time. Across from them, on the other side of the room, were the slackers. Too busy talking with each other and goofing off to actually be doing anything. Scattered all around the room were the other smaller groups of friends just doing their thing. It was weird how our sensei didn't have it so that there was only a certain number of people in a group.

Yume immediately went over to me. "Hey."

"Hi. What are you doing here?"

She rolled her eyes. "Partnering up with you dummy."

"Uh, I think Tokone Sensei said to be in groups, not partner up with someone. I don't think 2 classifies a "group."

"Look around Ogiwara-kun. Tokone Sensei doesn't care what size your group is, as long as you get your work done. She's not a good teacher, but she isn't bad either. If only she actually taught us stuff instead of trying the "cool". Not that I'm complaining though, I mean, I finished the whole textbook already, so she doesn't care what I do really."

"You finished all the questions? How many pages are in this textbook? Like 500? How long did that ya? A month? Did you finish just last week?"

"Actually it took me, a little over half a week." Yume leaned in, a smug smirk forming on her face. "Impressed?"

I scoffed. "Yeah, no. You just seem like a nerd."

"Well, I'd like to think that I'm a cool nerd. You know, a sports nerd. Doesn't that make me cool or something?"

"Not really? Makes other girls jealous of you because you're closer the hot jocks on the team. I mean, you are right? Isn't that what happens in these sports anime? The only strong female leads are usually childhood friends, or is related to someone on the team, usually the ace. Right?"

Yume looked at me as if I had grown another head. "This isn't Slam Dunk you know. But yeah, I am childhood friends with someone on the team."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Who?"

"You'll have to find out."

Afterwards I didn't even have to do any work as Yume pulled out a folder with the papers in which she had put her homework papers and let me copy off of her. English wasn't at all that interesting. I was way ahead of the class in terms of fluency in the language. Though Yume wasn't that far behind.

After school was over, I thought about Yume's offer. It wouldn't hurt to do so, but I wasn't sure if I was ready for that kind of commitment, I had no doubt that I would be able to make the team. It was staying with the team all the way to the end that I doubted I could do. Rather than going immediately, I made my way over to a nearby outdoor basketball court and sat down on a bench on the sidelines.

I didn't know what to do. But I knew someone who might have an idea. Quickly, I texted my parents and told them I was going to be late. Though then again, back in our old city I usually hung out at the mall after school with my friends.

With a reluctant sigh I dialed up Kuroko's number.

"Hello?" My lips form a light smile as I recognize his quiet, deadpan voice over the phone. It had been a while since last actually talked to him. Though, while this wasn't face to face like I wanted, it was better than nothing.

"Hey Kuroko. What's up?" Even through the phone, I could hear Kuroko gasp quietly. "Sorry I waited this long to call, but there were some complications that prevented me from calling earlier."

"No, it's fine Ogiwara-kun. Um…Is there a reason for calling me right now? I'm about to head to practice."

I scrunch up my face. "Practice? It's only been two days since the Winter Cup finals, are you sure you should be practicing right now?"

"Well, no, I probably shouldn't, but we haven't really done much actual practice. Coach just gathers us into the film room to watch our previous games to see where we could improve and our goals for the future."

"Oh really? What do you guys plan to do next? The next biggest thing after the Winter Cup is the Summer Tournament and the biggest one of all are the Nationals, which if I am not mistaken starts in late May."

"You are correct Ogiwara-kun. Our next target is the Nationals. Most of the big hitters such as Shizou and Kannoh and Kyouchin were recovering from last year's Nationals, so they could not participate in the Winter Cup." I could hear the sound of yelling in the background. A male and a female voice. "As you can tell, Kagami-kun is quite, how you say, pumped."

"Ha, yeah, I can tell. But, um…I need your help with something."

"Anything Ogiwara-kun."

"So listen, um…I just got to my new school, and the manager of the basketball team seems pretty interested in me and offered to give me a tryout for the team. Um…As you can tell, I'm not sure what to do. I have until the end of the week to show up in the gym and actually try-out, but if I don't show up after that, they'll stop bothering me."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. On one hand, I've regained my love for basketball, though you'd claim that I'd never lost it all, but on the other hand, I'm afraid to fully commit to another team. Another team that I…That I'll fail because I'm not good enough."

It was silent for a moment and I was afraid that Kuroko had hung up on me, disgusted. "Ogiwara-kun, you don't know that. If the team fail's, it won't be completely on your shoulder to bear alone. That's what having a team is about. Besides, you can't really say that about a team that you've never even really met have you? Give it a few days and then, when you've thought about it, long and hard, then you make your decision. Personally, I'd take the offer, but I'm not you. Still, it would be nice to see you in the Nationals. Kind of like we're keeping our promise right?"

 _Our promise huh?_

"I'll…I'll think about it. Thanks…Tetsuya. Bye."

"Goodbye Shigehiro-kun. And good luck."

 _I know what I must do now._

Ogiwara Shigehiro was an interesting boy, Yume decided. His skill with the ball was slightly above average at best, but she suspected that that may have been because of his lack of training. But, despite that, she felt as if he had potential. Not Generation of Miracles, or the Dragons of Kyushu level potential, but still, the potential to be a good player. Maybe even become the ace of a team.

Beside her, Homura sat in a fold up chair staring at the door, waiting for Ogiwara to arrive. For some odd reason, Reki was oddly certain that their new recruit would come. Sitting on the stage and spinning a ball on his nose was Kumagawa.

Yume hoped that Ogiwara Shigehiro would join the team. They needed his talent. And without Akagi or Ashiya, then the new recruit may have been more necessary than she thought. They had been waiting for over half an hour.

Sighing, Reki stood up. "Well, I guess it's time to go ho-hmm?"

Standing there at the doorway, a determined expression on his face. Was Ogiwara Shigehiro.

"I'm not late for anything am I?"

* * *

 **I'm sorry if I got the school aspect wrong, I based most of it off of anime and manga tropes and what research i did wasn't that helpful really. So again, I apologize if I messed it up.**


	3. A New School, New Friends: Part 2

**A New School, New Friends: Part 2**

* * *

"What are you doing?"

I sighed and turned my head to the side to look at Homura. Sitting up, I reached for my water bottle, only to find it gone. I then turned my head back to Homura, who held my water bottle in his hand. With a sigh, I stood up, my breathing and heartbeat, slowly returning to normal.

"Well, as you can clearly see, I was taking a break you know. A little shut eye, get my heart rate back down to 15 BMP, you know? All normal things." Homura sighed and tossed me my water bottle back. "Thank you. I wasn't planning on taking that long a break. I mean, Hanakawa-senpai did say to go and take a break."

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't say leave the campus, Ogiwara-kun. Though I do admit, the only person who's ever hid under the bridge before was the captain back when he was a freshman. That I know of anyways. For all you and I know, hiding under the bridge is a sort of sign or something that says you're the next in line to be captain or something."

"Oh hell no. I'm the last person you'd want to be captain." I call back, as we make our way back to the gym. "Besides, Hanakawa-senpai is going to pick you after all." Homura grimaced and shook his head. If there was anything that I'd learned in the past two weeks or so, was that Homura Reki, did not want to become captain.

Over the past week, I'd gotten to know every member of our basketball team. It was unlike my previous school's team, or even my junior high team, in that anyone could join, as long as the coach deemed them good enough. Shizou, was different. The five starters, chose who joined the team. Well, the five starters, manager and coach do, but for the most part, the starters choose. Which is why, our team is…well shorthanded would be an understatement, as we only really have a 7 man line up as of now.

Leaning against the doorway into the gym was our captain, Hanakawa Toru. His shoulder length black hair was tied up into a short pony tail. As usual, his nose was buried into a book about chess. As we approached, he looked up and snapped his book closed.

"Good, you're back. I guess we can finally start with the actual practice. You know, passing drills, cone drills, lay up lines, free throw lines, and hey, maybe you two can stay behind do, I dunno, a hundred suicides? Maybe a 50 wind sprints? How's that sound? Or how about you guys stay here till one of you can do an Aztec push up?" A sadistic smile formed on his face as he dragged Homura and I into the gym.

Yume sat on the stage hiding her giggles behind her clipboard. Sitting beside her and looking at a clipboard was Kumagawa. Despite this not being the first time that Hanakawa-Senpai had dragged the two of us into the gym, Yume still couldn't help but laugh at the sight of it all.

Hanakawa-senpai took a look at the rest of the squad and motioned for them to come closer. "All right, everyone let's begin!" Right away, I blanked out and couldn't remember a single thing about what we did. Not that it was important. Just some passing drills I think. Nothing too big or important really. I think we also did some cone drills.

After practice, as I was putting the balls away, Hanakawa-senpai called me over. "What's up? Is my expertise needed?"

Senpai scoffed and bopped me on the head. "Don't be stupid. I just need you to referee Kumagawa and Homura's one on one. Bastards got riled too riled up during practice, and now they can't end the day without a duel. I have to go and discuss a practice match with Coach Shirozaki, so make sure that no one gets injured, or does something stupid, alright Ahowara?" I frowned at the nickname, but nonetheless nodded. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

I sighed and made my way to Homura and Kumagawa. Both of whom, were standing at the other end of the court. But with no ball. _Seriously?_ Another sigh escaped my lips as I turned around and grabbed a ball of off the rack and threw it towards the two of them. "Oi! Here catch!" To my right was a desk with a whistle on it. I picked it up in my hands, but otherwise left it alone.

Without turning around, Kumagawa reached up and caught the ball with one hand and shot me toothy smile. "Thanks. You'll be the referee Ogiwara-san?" I nodded and pulled a nearby seat over and sat down. Some of the other guys on the team were standing nearby as well and waiting for Kumagawa to start. One of the guys brought out the scoreboard. And by scoreboard, i mean a bunch of cards that they flip over to whenever someone scored.

Kumagawa palmed the ball and brought it down it low between his knees. Across from him, Homura stood, with his knees bent and arms spread out. From what I could tell, Homura was close enough that Kumagawa couldn't shoot, and far enough that Kumagawa couldn't blow by him.

Dribbling the ball backwards toward the half court line, Kumagawa must have noticed as well. "Hey, the hell's up with this? Can't you give me a little bit of a break Reki?" All of which was said with a sly smile on his face "Ma…I can never get a break."

Hesitating to the right, Kumagawa managed to get a sliver of daylight, and blew by Reki. The ball was almost ripped from Kumagawa's grasp had he not wrapped the ball around his back and floated in with the left hand. "1-0! Come on Reki! It was only a hezi, man! Didn't have to go leaning."

Homura scoffed as rolled the ball up to the half court line. "Leaning? I think you need to get your eyes checked Kizashi. Oi! Ogiwara! Watch closely. I'm about to drop this fool."

"Only thing that'll be dropping is your reputation Reki." Kumagawa called out, knees bent and arms out, though his right foot was slight forward. "Now come on!"

A grin appeared on Homura's face. "As you wish!" He dribbled forward and did some sort of move that looked like Homura was deliberately throwing the ball towards Kumagawa, and then, at the last second snatched the ball back before Kumagawa could rip it from him.

I turned to look at Yume, who was sitting behind me. "What was that?"

"That, Ogiwarin, is called the shamgod. It's a high level dribble that is often used by the handler to create and is mostly used in transition. Lots of NBA players like Kyrie Irving and CP3 are known for their use of the technique. It's a pretty deadly technique when you know how and when to use it." Yume replied pulling her seat over to my side. "I just realized, you've never seen Kumagawa-kun and Reki-kun go one on one before. Just watch Ogiwarin. You don't even have to referee."

"I don't know, I take my job pretty seriously. I mean, I got a whistle and all, and it'd be so sad if I didn't get to use it." Yume rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, just watch. You won't be disappointed."

Homura, according to scoreboard on the other side of the room, had scored 2 times in a row as Kumagawa had possession of the ball. He was driving towards the rim and pushed off of his inside foot. For a second I thought Homura was going to smash the ball against the backboard. I quickly changed my mind when Kumagawa wrapped the ball around the backboard with one hand and flicked it in.

"Nice finish!" Homura called out. "Could've used a bit more English you know! You wouldn't have had to bank it in then."

"Shut up. Like you would've been able to do any better man."

As soon as Homura got the ball back, he wasted no time in trying to get past Kumagawa. First he did a simple right to left crossover, but didn't get the reaction he wanted, and so backed out with a behind the back move. Homura must have seen an opening because he booked it, driving towards the rim with Kumagawa at his hip. And then, just as Homura neared the rim, he stopped on a dime, and with Kumagawa flying past him, and got nothing but net.

"Momentum's a bitch man. Would've blocked that trash."

"Pssh. As if. You're delusional Kizashi. Just admit it already. I'm better than you."

At this Kumagawa laughed. "Who's the delusional one now? You need to go the doctor or something? Looks like you might need to get your eyes checked. Now…Newbies! Ogiwarin! Watch closely, and see how easy it is to break someone's ankles. Put someone on skates. Watch, very carefully. Each dribble, each head fake, all of it." Kumagawa's pupils dilated and his eyes narrowed.

"Ogiwarin. Do as he says. Kumagawa's going to show why you don't need an Emperor Eye to break someone's ankles." Yume told me, her voice dead serious.

Kumagawa dropped down into a low stance and time seemed to slow down. One dribble. Then another. And another as he walked forward, before he suddenly _blurred_ and crossed over right to left, and then left to right. _Huh…He's attacking Homura's front foot…Why is that?_ During Kumagawa's relentless assault, Homura kept back peddling until he lost his balance and fell to the ground on his butt. With Homura on his ass, Kumagawa pulled up and drilled the jumper.

"See that!? That's how you break ankles! No gimmicks, no slipping on the floor or stepping on someone's foot. Just straight up murder!" Kumagawa called out as Homura slowly stood up and shot Kumagawa a dirty look. "Salty bro?"

"Nah, just trying figure out how I'm gonna wreck you." He dribbled the ball between his legs, pondering how to put Kumagawa on his highlight reel. "I got it. This'll be something, none of you have seen before. Even you Kizashi."

Laughing, Kumagawa beckoned for Homura to begin. "Show me this new trick of yours that I have yet to see. I'm the streetballers here after all. So I'll be the judge on its nastiness." Homura smirked and palmed the ball with his left hand. With a quick jab step, Homura dribbled to the right, Kumagawa following closely behind him. "Come on! That all you got!"

Ignoring his taunts, Homura dribbled slowly to the corner. Just as he reached the corner, Homura dribbled the ball through his _and_ Kumagawa's legs and quickly spun around the puzzled Kumagawa, caught the ball and began to drive to the rim. Kumagawa managed to recover from the dribble move and was quick to get back on defense, rushing to get in front of his opponent. In turn, Homura threw the ball off the backboard, jumped and tapped the ball into the hoop, using the rim as protection.

"Okay. Okay. I admit, that was nice. Never seen that before, but I'd say that was only a 6/10 on the nastiness scale. But that was good bro. The through the legs dribble could've a little bit smoother, but yeah, that was pretty good."

"Alright boys, put the ball away, the coach wants to talk before practice ends. Hurry up!" Hanakawa-senpai called out, stepping back into the gym. Yume grabbed me the shoulder and nodded her head at me. I put the whistle that I didn't even use back onto the desk where I had seen it.

"What do you think the coach wants to talk about?" I asked her. Yume grabbed a few loose strands of hair and put them behind her ear.

"Probably the practice match. I don't know which teams the coach managed to schedule a game with, but I do know that the school is in this prefecture. And all of the schools that Shirozaki-sensei and I went to schedule a game with, were all top 10 in the prefecture. So it could be Samaguchi High, it could be Kodai High or it could be the second ranked Shoei high. Regardless of which, we are at a slight disadvantage."

"What do you mean?"

"Two of our starters aren't here. One them is out with a broken arm and the other is...Well, I don't really know what Ashiya-kun is doing. He never really said. Which is really bad. He's the ace of our team and there is no way to contact him because he never answers his fucking phone and he moved houses, so we don't really know where he is. Good thing is, he should probably be back by the time the Nationals begin."

"And if he doesn't?"

Yume smiled bitterly. "Then we can kiss our chances at the title goodbye. He's the only reason we even got that far last year. Every other elite team in the country probably already knows that he's not here and are going to use it their advantage. Normally Kumagawa-kun is our sixth man and gives us a scoring punch off of the bench, but now he's going to be a starter and I'm not sure how well that's going to go. Our bench is rather weak and he plays more minutes than most of the starters. So this could very well mess with our style of play."

"Who are the starters? Or rather were? Before this year's Nationals."

"Hanakawa-senpai and Reki-kun were the starting backcourt. Shizoma-senpai and Akagi-Senpai were the starting front court, but Shizoma-senpai is in college now. And Ashiya-kun was our starting center. Now, only Hanakawa-Senpai and Reki-kun are the only ones remaining from last year. At least until Akagi-Senpai and Ashiya-kun come back. Hopefully they'll be back soon."

"I see." I mutter. Considering things, I was probably going to be on the bench and play limited minutes, but who knows? The coach might make me a starter or he might not. Either way, I don't care. Because at least I was playing basketball with a team again.

"All right, everyone, gather up!" I sat next to Yume, just to the right of Shirozaki-sensei as he wheeled in a whiteboard. "Now listen up. I got a call from Ashiya and bad news, he won't be able to return until after the qualifying round of the Nationals."

"What is he doing!?" Homura snarled, having to be pulled back down to his seat by Kumagawa. "What the hell has he been doing all this time?"

"Apparently he's in America at a basketball training camp in Chicago where he apparently caught the eye of former NBA player and legend Dennis Rodman, which is why he'll be late to return. But when he returns he'll be better than ever, so at least there's a silver lining to all of this. And for the good news, Akagi-kun is going to be back by next month or so." A round of cheers went throughout the room.

"Now, onto current matters. Next week, on Saturday we will be going up against Kodai High. They are currently ranked 4th in the prefecture and will try their absolute best to beat us. Are we going to let them!?"

"NO!"

"Good. Kodai High should be an easy win, _if_ we don't make any stupid mistake and if we don't underestimate them. But otherwise, there shouldn't be any problems. Now, rotations. These aren't set in stone, so don't worry about how many minutes you're going to get. So don't complain about only getting 5 minutes of play. Some of you won't even get to play." He then pulled out a black marker. "The starting point guard should be of no surprise to anyone, that's you Hanakawa. Shooting guard, Homura. Small forward, Kumagawa, I'm expecting you to at least score for us, regardless of how inefficient you are. Power Forward, Ogiwara Shigehiro." I perked up at this.

"What?"

Shirozaki-sensei turned to me. "Don't worry about it, you'll probably only play 15 to 20 minutes or so unless you really blow me away. At center, Tomoe. Is that clear?"

All of us nodded and then went to go and change out of our gym clothes. I donned a black shirt and a pair of jeans, grabbed my bag and practically ran out of the gym. Until I bumped into Yume. "Ow."

"Isn't that my line?" She smirked and helped me up. "Don't worry about. I was waiting for you." Waiting? Why was she waiting for me? "Homura thinks that there's a chance that you might win the starting 3 spot. Kumagawa was never really meant to be a starter, despite having the skill to be an ace at another school. He is the epitome of what a sixth man is supposed to be." That caught my attention. Kuroko was a sixth man. Or at least he claimed. "The first 6th man, or the one that pioneered the role was legendary Boston Celtics player John Havlicek. He's one of the best scorers in NBA history. Kumagawa based his playstyle off of the best 6th man in the NBA today. Jamal Crawford. The thing that they all have in common? They're all scorers. Kumagawa isn't that good at anything else really. He's an average defender and his passing isn't that good either. But if you want scoring, then Kumagawa is the one."

"Are you praising me again Yume? I could've sworn someone was praising me and telling someone else just how good I am." Yume and I turned to see Homura and Kumagawa with Hanakawa-senpai behind them, making their way towards us.

"Please, don't say anything Ogiwara, it'll just make this fool's ego bigger. As if it wasn't already big enough." Hanakawa-senpai called out. "Now, to the mall!" He then ran past Homura and began to make his way to the bus stop. On the way he turned his head over his shoulder. "What the fuck are you waiting for!? The bus is already fucking here!"

The rest of us looked at each other and ran. _I think I'm going to like it here. Yeah, I think I will._


	4. Shizou vs Kodai part 1

**My First Practice game…in a long time Part 1:**

* * *

Kodai High, to put it lightly, was unimpressive. Like, so much so, that I began to wonder how such a garbage looking school, with such obvious delinquents was the _fourth_ best team in the prefecture. Until I thought about it. Why would a team that was so obviously bad be ranked so high? Dirty, cheap, and foul play that's what. I'd heard the stories from Kuroko about Kirisaki-Daichi and their dirty playstyle, and it seems to me that they aren't the only ones either.

As we entered their school grounds, some members of their team eyed us with mischievous grins on their faces. Most of the freshmen and some of the second years on our team looked a little nervous, myself included at what was coming ahead. Though Yume waved my doubts away.

"Don't think too much about it. Kodai High isn't anything to worry about. They're a bunch of shitty cowards who can't play ball, so they have to resort to violence. And unlike that team in Tokyo, Kirisaki-Daichi, they don't even do it that discretely either. Most of the time, they just straight up play basketball like it's the 70's. All out brawls. Last year though, they shit themselves at the sight of Ashiya-kun, so they couldn't really do much of anything."

Homura spoke up as well, putting his duffel bag down as he unzipped his warp up suit. "But that doesn't mean we can underestimate Kodai High. They are the fourth ranked for a reason. They play hard and dirty. Expect a lot of elbows thrown your way and a lot of fouls. But they don't have to worry about that. Kodai has over 20 guys in their team, even though they should only really have 15 at max, meaning they can just throw dudes on you. Last year they tried to do the Hack-A, strategy on us. Too bad that Ashiya was an 80% free throw shooter."

I nodded as the team gathered around the coach. Shirozaki-sensei was, for his age, really, really fit. He was over sixty years old, yet he didn't look a day over 35. Pulling at his jacket lapel, Coach tapped at the small, erasable board he had in his hands.

"Alright, as most of you know, Kodai High is a dirty and cheap team. But don't let that fool you. Their star player, Eishiro Ryoma can ball. He would probably be in the top 5 in the prefecture if he wasn't on such a dirty team and he didn't believe in Kodai's style of play. Eishiro can shoot the three with some consistency, so I need you to watch out for that Hanakawa. Also, be wary of his pump fake, because he can, and will jump into you to draw the foul. Don't be too worried if he puts in the floor and double team at every drive into the paint, because he has problems with contact."

Shirozaki-sensei coughed. "Now onto the game plan. It's simple. Run the fastbreak. I don't care who gets the rebound, don't wait and call for the ball. Just run up the court and the rebounder will get you the ball."

Yume chimed in as well. "My data shows that Kodai High has the worst fastbreak defense in the top 10 of the prefecture, so we need to take advantage of that. Another thing that my data shows is that Kodai High, tends to crash the offensive glass a lot, so remember to box out and watch for those elbows that they're going to throw at you."

Coach nodded. "Right, and remember, take shots early and often and pass the ball. Don't hold onto the ball for 15 seconds and then chuck up a super contested floater. I'm talking to you Kumagawa. Now on defense, I want the screener's man to switch and guard the ball handler. And when the ball handler is anywhere on the baseline, I want you to trap. If they force you to switch, double team. Kodai High isn't a good shooting team, so you can afford to double team. Same thing with ISO plays. On ball, I want you guys to play tightly and off ball, unless I say so, play your man moderately. Tomoe, I trust that you can patrol the paint because Ogiwara is neither tall enough, nor athletic enough to block shots. Are we good?" Everyone nodded. "Alright, 3, 2, 1…"

"OORAH!"

Taking a quick sip of water, I took my warm-up jacket off and pulled my practice shirt over. The Shizou jersey was simple. It was black, with a golden line down the side and from the left shoulder to the right hip, with the kanji for Shizou within the gold. The V-neck of the jersey only went down to just below my collarbone. Slipping my armband on my right arm, I stood up and made my way to center court.

I thought about choosing number 7 as my jersey number. It was the number I wore back in Meiko. And that's exactly why I chose not to wear it. It brings up bad memories about a darker time that I try my hardest to forget. So instead, I chose number 8 as my jersey number. Behind me Hanakawa-senpai clapped me on the shoulder and nodded. To my left on the other side of the court, Homura nodded at me and across from him Kumagawa gave fist bumps to everyone. Even the Kodai players. Tomoe cracked his knuckles as he waited for the tip off. I didn't really know Tomoe that well. He was 6'5" and had short brown hair and wore the jersey number 12. That, and that he doesn't like to talk.

The referee walked up, ball in hand and whistle in his mouth. "Let's have a good game, everyone." I stretched my arms out and waited anxiously for the ball to come our way. Tomoe had at least a 3 to 4 inch height advantage over his match up. "Begin!" Tomoe waited for the ball to reach its max height. Kodai's center did not.

"Hey! Get on defense! No use complaining!" Hanakawa-senpai yelled. "Ogiwara get closer, seal off that passing lane!" I did as he told and stuck to my man closely.

Bringing up the ball for Kodai High, was number 4, Eishiro Ryoma. He was slowly dribbling the ball up court. My man began to make his way towards Hanakawa-senpai to set a screen. "Switch!" I called out. Hanakawa-senpai waved me off, as my match up planted his outside foot hard on the top of key and cut towards the basket. "Sorry!"

"It's fine. Better to be safe than sorry." Homura said, passing by as he stuck close to his cutting match up. I looked up to the shot clock. _13 seconds left_. With time running out, Eishiro got a screen from his center and forced Tomoe to switch onto him. Tomoe was too slow to stop Eishiro from blowing by him. But just as he reached the low post, Hanakawa-senpai came in from behind and batted the ball away from Eishiro's grasp.

"Up the court!" Wasting no time, I began to sprint up court. "Heads up!" I looked towards Hanakawa-senpai just in time to see him throw a cross court pass towards me. One of the Kodai defenders jumped into the air to catch or bat the ball away, but missed it by inches. I got the ball and as I layed it in, someone slammed into me.

"Oof!" The ball went in anyways. "And-1!" I called out. No call. "What the hell!?" I yelped as Hanakawa-senpai bopped me on the head.

2-0

"Don't complain. They aren't going to call those fouls. Not here. Not against this team. Don't worry about not getting the foul call. Now get back on defense!" Eishiro used this chance to blow by Hanakawa-senpai. Just as senpai reached him however, Eishiro snatched the ball and did a little step back maneuver making a little space for him. To senpai's credit, he as least tried to contest the shot. Eishiro still drilled it however.

3-2

Sighing, I made my way up the court as Homura dribbled it up. He tugged at his jersey as he gestured for a screen. I noticed that Kumagawa was coming my way, so I stepped into his man and set a screen for him. Moments later, Homura got the ball to Kumagawa. "That's three." He said to himself as the ball hit nothing but net. As we got back on defense I gave Kumagawa a fist bump before following my man to the high post where he proceeded to post up.

5-3

Eishiro tossed the ball over Hanakawa in a high arc to my man before cutting to the right where Kumagawa's man set a screen. My man held the ball high in the air as he watched Eishiro cut to the basket. And it as then that I realized what was happening. "Give and go!" I called out. Homura nodded and stunted towards the cutting Eishiro who had received the ball, before closing out on his match up. With Eishiro distracted, Hanakawa-senpai reached in and stripped him of the ball.

"Reaching foul! Black #3! Kodai High has possession!"

"What!?" Hanakawa-senpai called out before biting back his response." That's so bullshit." He muttered under his breath as put a hand on Eishiro as my man was about to inbound it. "Don't worry about it guys, just stick to your man and play some defense!"

"Come on man, cheer up a bit." Eishiro said, a sly grin on his face. He thrust his elbow into senpai's gut, spun out to the three point line, and caught the inbounds pass. I closed out on him, but it wouldn't even matter as Eishiro drilled another three. "Not like it'll help you at all." He taunted, back peddling.

6-5

"You alright Senpai?"

"Don't worry. It's just an elbow to the gut. Nothing I haven't had before. Now stop lazing about and get on offense!" I nodded and drifted off to the right elbow, where I set a screen for Homura who got the ball at the wing.

"ISO, ISO!" He called out, waving for us to clear out, before posting up and backing down his matchup. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kumagawa do a stutter step towards the key before spinning out and cutting to the wide open corner, just as Homura cut towards the basket. He then wrapped the ball around his back and to the wide open Kumagawa. "That's 6!" Again nothing but net.

8-6

"Nice shot." Hanakawa-senpai said, high-fiving Kumagawa before picking Eishiro up at halfcourt. "Focus! No open threes, and no free lay ups!" He commanded, closing in on Eishiro and forcing him to pick up his dribble and pass it over to Homura's man. "Switch!" Homura called out to me as my man set a screen.

"Shit!" I turned my head to see Hanakawa-senpai lose his footing, allowing for a wide open Eishiro three pointer.

9-8

"Let's get those points back!" Homura yelled as I inbounded the ball.

"Homura!" Shirozaki-sensei stood up from his spot on the bench made some signals with his hands.

Homura nodded and began to direct our offense. "Ogiwara," He snapped his fingers and pointed at the ground. I made my way over and set a screen, before drifting over to the right wing. Homura handed the ball off to Hanakawa senpai who drove into the teeth of the defense. My man collapsed into the paint, leaving me wide open. Senpai noticed this and kicked it out to Kumagawa in the corner, who then threw it to me behind the back.

Before the ball was even in my hand, my eyes were already trained onto the rim. As the ball rotated into my hand, I remembered to stay on the balls of my feet to give me a little extra spring in my step. I also dipped the ball below my waist for a little rhythm and power. While my form wasn't as pretty as Kumagawa's or Homura's, it worked and rattled into the hoop.

11-9

As I made my way down court, Hanakawa-senpai came up to me. "Be careful, it's usually at the 6 minute mark that they begin to play a little more aggressive. Watch out for that." And then he again picked Eishiro up at the halfcourt. My man proceed to set a screen and as I called out, "Switch!" I realized that my matchup was setting a moving a screen. Which, is illegal. Then as I got close, and got around him to mark Eishiro, he stepped on my foot. Kumagawa rotated around and was about to close in on Eishiro, but got levelled by their center. Another wide open three pointer for Eishiro.

Or so I thought.

Just as Eishiro was bringing the ball up, Hanakawa-senpai got around another screen by Kodai's small forward and ripped the ball from his hands and tossed it to Homura. He stopped at the top of the key and passed it to Tomoe who threw it down.

13-9

"Nice steal." Kumagawa said as he was helped up by our captain. "Damn, that guy should play for the football team. That was one hell of a tackle." He said, eyeing the center who threw him to the ground. "Think you can get me the ball? Force a switch?"

"No, but I can get you the ball. That should be good enough. Now get on offense. Otherwise I'm dumping the ball in to Homura." Kumagawa jogged up the court grumbling all the way. I was about to set another screen for Hanakawa-senpai, but he waved me off and signalled for me to set a down screen for Homura. My defender threw his elbow at me as Homura curled around to the three point line where he got the ball.

"Ogiwara, you alright?" He called out. I nodded. "Alright, clear, clear out, ISO." Kumagawa snickered as I passed by him on my way to the other side of the court.

"That's funny, usually it's me who calls all the ISO plays. And usually they work out."

Homura began with a simple in and out hesitation move into a between the legs and then into a behind the back, His match up however manage to keep onto him. Though it looked like Homura was about to shake him. With a wraparound dribble through his legs, Homura blew by him and then stopped on a dime before driving towards the rim, his defender spinning all the way around. I felt my face twist at the nastiness of the move that Homura just pulled on that dude. Kodai's center stepped into Homura's path. Homura jumped into the air, twisting his body to the side and then flicking it into the hoop.

15-9

"Daaammnnn!" Kumagawa walked up to Homura and began to dap him up. "That was nasty! 8/10 though. Should've done a 360 bro."

Hanakawa-senpai spoke up. "That would've unnecessary and he probably would've missed that. But like Bakagawa said, that was a nasty layup. Now get back on D!" He practically yelled that last part out, sprinting after Eishiro who threw up a floater right over Tomoe's outstretched hands. Me? I stayed on my man in the corner. Although I do admit that I thought about going over to help contest the shot.

15-11

"See! This is why we should keep the celebrating to a minimum Bakagawa! Ahomura!" Senpai roared as he brought the ball up court. There was no stopping him as dribbled the ball low to the ground right into the paint and then passed it behind the back to me for the open three pointer. I brought the ball up into a pump fake and drove into the paint and then kicked it out to the driving Tomoe, whose man dug his entire forearm into Tomoe's stomach.

Finally, a foul was called our way. "Shooting foul! White #8! Two free throws." I raised my arm up for a fist bump and made my way to the side as Tomoe made his way to the charity stripe.

"Oi, Ogiwara, you're on the bench." The captain called out. I nodded and waited for the whistle to ring again. Tomoe drilled the first free throw no problem.

16-11

As I made my way to the bench, I could feel Coach Shirozaki's intense gaze upon me. "Um…Did I do something wrong?" I asked as I sat down next to Yume. Both coach and Yume shook their heads,

It was Yume who spoke up. "Not at all. In fact, you're playing way better than we thought you would, so expect to see a lot more minutes. Though there could be some adjustments on defense, like when Eishiro caught the defense sleeping. I think, instead of staying to guard your man, you could done what Reki-kun did and jab towards him, as if you're about to help, but then go back at the last second. But, otherwise, you played well. But did you notice anything different?"

I thought about it. "Yeah, you said they'd be playing dirty, but all I've seen are a couple of elbows and a particularly tough screen, but otherwise, nothing too out of the ordinary."

Yume nodded. "And that's what's weird, and at the same time it actually makes sense. I did a little more research on Kodai and found out that their coach was actually fired after failing to even qualify for the Nationals, the Inter-High and the Winter Cup. So now they've got a new coach and a lot of new players. The only ones that I actually remember from last year are Eishiro, their center and their power forward. So it would make sense if they actually changed up their playstyle from last year. And that's bad. My data is outdated. It's wrong. And now, one of the biggest X-factors in this game, prior knowledge to their playstyle, is gone. Now we just have to hope that our boys can pull through."

"They will." I looked back in time to see Eishiro drill another three. "That was his fourth three or something." I looked towards the scoreboard. It was now 20-16, with us still in the lead, with 3 minutes left in the game.

"Fifth." Tomoe's quiet voice reached my ears. He was sitting beside me. "Hey." When did he get here? "I got substituted the same time as you. But yeah, Eishiro hasn't even missed a shot yet."

With a loud roar, Homura leapt up and grabbed an offensive rebound and bounced the ball into the lane without looking to the cutting Hanakawa for a layup.

22-16

"Yeah, if Hanakawa-senpai can't stop or slow down Eishiro, then our lead, may start to diminish. And against as team that we have no knowledge against, is a bad thing." Yume said, looking down at her clipboard, jotting down some notes. She cringed as Hanakawa was again tangled up in another screen, giving Eishiro ample space to pull up from the elbow. Fortunately, he missed and the ball clanked off the back iron of the rim. Homura grabbed the ball and immediately threw it down the court to Kumagawa like a quarterback would to his wide receiver.

It seemed that Kumagawa had a free layup, until Eishiro came up behind him and blocked Kumagawa from behind. Kumagawa flew into the stanchion, but thankfully didn't injure himself in anyway. I heard Yume let out a sigh of relief as Kumagawa sprinted back into play.

"Number 5's gonna set a down screen for Eishiro, and then he's do a give and go with their center and then kick it out to number 7, who's going to get a ball screen from number 5 and then kick it back out to Eishiro in the corner." Yume said to our coach, who nodded and had the team switch defensive settings.

I looked at her, a little amazed. I'd heard from Kuroko how his so called "girlfriend" Momoi, was a genius of a manager, but I'd never seen this before. Yume must've noticed my awed looks and shot me a smirk, though I did notice her cheeks flush red.

"Impressed?"

"Kind of yeah." I said, watching as Eishiro got Hanakawa–senpai flying into the sidelines with a pump fake and then drove to the hoop for an easy lay in.

22-18

"Ah, well, it's the type of thing that you just understand after watching hours upon hours of basketball. Be it in real life, or on TV. You just, get to know how plays develop. That and I have a lot of free time, so I actually read up on types of plays, types of offenses, inbound plays, out of timeout plays. Kinda boring, but I help in any way I can. That, and I've seen that kind of play from teams like the Dubs and the Spurs. Now those two teams that even we can learn from. Their teamwork is impeccable." She then turned her attention back to the game. "Go over the screen Kumagawa!" He jumped into the air, contesting a tough midrange shot which clanked off the side of the rim.

"You must watch a lot of games then."

"Oh, I do. Even the shitty ones, like whenever the Sixers or the Lakers play. Ugh. They're awful to watch. Thank god the playoffs are starting now, so we don't have to see them play. Ooh, nice pass." We watched as senpai tapped the ball over his head to our number 2, who I have to say, I don't know the name of. Kumagawa then got the ball at the corner and then threw up another swish bomb.

That was what? His fourth three of the game?

25-18

There was only half a minute left in the first quarter. "Seems like Kodai is going for a two-for one." I told Yume, who only nodded.

"Yeah, seems like Eishiro's gonna get a drag screen and shoot a three and hope that it goes in." Instead of switching defenders, Homura hedged and trapped Eishiro in the corner. Unfortunately, Eishiro passed out to the corner where his teammate got the three. "Damn.

25-21

"Look at the bright side, they wasted time so they won't get a two for one." I pointed out to Yume. Instead, she shook her head and pointed out to Homura who tried to call a set play. But before he could, Eishiro came in from the weak side and snatched the ball and drove right down the court, before stopping just above the three point line, waiting for the rest of the team to catch up with him. "What's he doing? He had a free shot and just waited."

It was Tomoe who answered me. "He wants the last shot of the quarter. A buzzer beater, you could say."

"Yeah, and if he makes it, his confidence will be at an all-time high." We watched as Eishiro dribbled down the court, time winding down. "But that isn't all either. If he makes the shot, that'll give their team a big a momentum shift coming into the second quarter and cut the lead to 1." Yume added, biting her lip as Eishiro waved his hands about, clearing the entire left side of the court to just him and Hanakawa-senpai.

5 seconds…

Eishiro did a hesitation move, attacking Hanakawa-senpai's front foot, forcing our captain to move back slightly.

4 seconds…

Snatching the ball back into a behind the back maneuver, Eishiro got enough room to pull up, but to Senpai's credit, he closed out and kept Eishiro from shooting.

3 seconds...

Now Senpai had his hand held up in front of Eishiro's face, as the ace of Kodai pivoted on left foot, this way and that way. He held the ball with one hand and used his body to shield it from the captain's constant reaching.

2 seconds…

"He's just waiting for the time to go down." Yume muttered as she tapped her fingers on the clipboard. "I know Hanakawa-senpai won't do it, but he should really be calling for a double team right about now."

1 second…

Finally, Eishiro leapt backwards into the air, his eyes trained onto the rim like a hawk eyeing his prey. He twisted his body in midair to get a better angle and to align his body with the rim. I noticed how most of his shooting arm was 90 degrees. The arm put, the elbow and the wrist, were all bent at a 90 degree angle. Hanakawa-senpai did his best to contest the shot. But in the end, it didn't matter.

The ball went in anyways.


	5. Shizou Vs Kodai part 2

**Kodai V.S Shizou Quarter 2 & Halftime**

To my surprise, instead of everyone being down and quiet as our lead was now cut down only to one point, everyone was in high spirits. Most especially Kumagawa. Though I assumed that was because he had scored most of the teams points in the quarter. Kumagawa sat down to my right, Homura to my left, and Hanakawa-senpai pulled over a chair, whilst the coach dragged over his chair.

"Alright," The coach began. "Hanakawa and Homura, you two will be on the bench for the second quarter. We're going to need you two at full strength for the rest of the game. Kumagawa I'm moving you over to shooting guard. Ogiwara I'm putting you back in at Power Forward. Why? They couldn't figure out what to do with your ability to spread the floor and create spacing for shooters. Obviously, with a coach like Shimizu Honda, they're going to be able to adjust. But we're to be making good use of this until it doesn't work anymore. Yume do you have anything else you add?"

"I've been thinking, why not put Ogiwarin onto Eishiro?" Everyone including myself, shot her strange looks. "Listen, I know that Hanakawa-senpai is our best defender, but he simply doesn't have the length to contest shots and be able to cover more ground. Anyways, I don't think they're going to be sitting Eishiro down. Like at all. Which considering that he's your best player, doesn't bode well for them."

Coach Shirozaki nodded. "And remember: Play fast, play hard, and fight for every loose ball, fight for extra possessions, defend with intensity and pass with purpose. Those are going to be the keys to victory here. Alright now hands in! 3, 2, 1…"

"OORAH!"

The horn sounded and I stood up, slipping my training shirt off and setting it down on my seat. I took one last sip of water before jogging it on court. I stood across from Eishiro as the ball was inbounded. He looked at me, raised an eyebrow and shook his head, but otherwise stayed silent. _Tch. Screw you dude. Don't underestimate me._ I never had the physical gifts to play incredible defense. Not the length and large hands of someone like Kawhi Leonard, not the fast hands of someone like Kuroko or Akashi, and certainly not the vertical to swat balls out of the air like Kagami or Murasakibara. But if there was one thing that I was certain that I was. And that was that I am persistent.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kodai's #10 setting a ball screen for Eishiro. I thought about spinning around and closing out that way, but that would give Eishiro enough space to pull the trigger on a three early in the shot clock. So instead, I fought under the screen and stuck close to Eishiro. Or as close as I could without getting a foul call.

"You're a persistent one aren't you?" He said to me, as he handed the ball off to #8 who was followed closely by Kumagawa. "You weren't part of Shizou's team last year, were you?" I kept silent and followed Eishiro to the low block. "If you were I'd be very surprised. Unless you were their secret weapon. But then again that doesn't make sense either because if you were Shizou's secret weapon, then there's no doubt I would've have seen you in action against Kannoh." The smirk on his lips widened as he caught the ball along the baseline. "See if you can stop this."

Eishiro did a quick jab step before blowing by me. I did my best to try and keep up, but he was just too fast. Kumagawa rotated around and jumped in the air to contest the shot, but Eishiro wrapped the ball around Kumagawa's body and off to one of his teammates for an easy score.

25-25.

"Fuck." I muttered. I grabbed the ball and quickly inbounded it to Kumagawa. Drifting off to the left elbow, I set a ball screen for Kumagawa as he initiated the play. Our center then got the ball in the high post and I made a back door cut, drawing the opposing center slightly towards me. At the same time Kumagawa curled down a screen and got the ball just inside the three point line. Eishiro rotated around to defend him.

Kumagawa held it high above his head and did a slight jab step, but Eishiro didn't budge and raised his arm up to defend a shot, but otherwise stayed back far enough to stop Kumagawa from driving. Over on the sideline I saw coach Shirozaki call another play, but I don't think Kumagawa was listening.

"Iso, iso! Clear out!" He called out waving his hands while standing slightly sideways, the ball in his offhand. Eishiro moved slightly forward and began to put more pressure on Kumagawa. "Oh, you wanna play bitch? I'll kick your ass!"

With a yell, Kumagawa drove forward, blowing by Eishiro if only temporarily. Just as Eishiro planted his weak foot forward, Kumagawa spun around and shot a fading shot from the free throw line. It clanked off a little to the right side of the iron. I quickly rushed forward among the sea of bodies and tapped the ball out to Kumagawa on the three point line where he drilled another three pointer.

28-25.

"Nice play! Nice shot! Great rebound!" Our bench was calling out. As we were returning back down court Kumagawa came over and gave a low-five before spinning around an off ball screen back to his man.

Eishiro slowly dribbled the ball up court, almost lackadaisically. Seeing that he wasn't taking care of the ball, I tried to steal the ball away, but before I could even get anywhere near Eishiro, he had already blown by me. Fortunately Kumagawa saved my ass and cut off the ace of Kodai's advance and forced him to pass the ball back onto the perimeter.

"Tch." Eishiro grumbled as he moved back to the top of the key and got the ball right back. "That wasn't nice you know. Cutting someone off like that. Not nice at all." He rolled his neck and palmed the ball away from me. "It's time I teach you a lesson."

"Oh yeah?" Kumagawa smirked cockily as Eishiro forced a switch by getting a screen from Kumagawa's mark. "We'll see about that. Now come on asshole!"

With a wide grin stretching from ear to ear, Eishiro drove forward, did a right to left crossover into a behind the back. All the while Kumagawa stayed stuck on to him like glue. But Eishiro wasn't done yet and did another behind the back and bounced the ball through Kumagawa's legs and shot the open midrange jumper. Kumagawa, jumped to contest the shot, but made unnecessary contact as Eishiro drained the jumper.

A whistle rang across the gym.

28-27.

Kumagawa growled and looked like he was about to complain about the obvious foul call, but before he could Homura appeared behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. Eishiro sauntered up to the free throw line. He smirked at Kumagawa before calmly dropping the free throw and completing the three-point play.

28-28

Hanakawa-senpai, now that he was back on the floor, brought the ball up court and began to wave his hands, directing the offense. I drifted off to the left elbow and set a screen for Homura. Quickly curling around the screen, Homura took a step in and pulled up for the mid-range jumper which bounced off of the rim.

Grabbing the rebound over our center, Eishiro rushed down the court, not even bothering to wait for the rest of his team. Homura however was right behind him. As Eishiro leaped up to lay the ball in, Homura rose into the air and smacked the ball against the glass. I was right there behind them and got the rebound and bounced it ahead to Hanakawa-senpai.

"Alright guys, slow down. Slow the tempo. Control the tempo! Don't let them dictate the pace of play!" Hanakawa-senpai called out.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Homura setting me a screen and I faked a cut towards it, before spinning 180 degrees and running right to the rim. I don't know why but when Hanakawa-senpai lobbed the ball over the heads of the Kodai players, I jumped up like it was an alley-oop. Just barely getting my hand on the ball, I felt someone crash into me and when I heard the whistle ring out, I flicked the ball up towards the rim just hoped and that it would roll in.

It didn't.

"Why'd you jump it man? Still, good try though." Homura said, grabbing my arm and lifting me up. "Try and get both free throws in the basket."

I nodded and made my to the free throw line. There was around 7 minutes left in the quarter. Behind me, Hanakawa-senpai was having a talk with Yume. They were probably discussing some offensive and defensive settings. I recall hearing Yume say that back when Ashiya was still with the team, they would intentionally miss the second free throw and let Ashiya grab the offensive rebound and put the missed free throw back in.

Taking a deep breath, I dribbled the ball three times in rhythm and shot the first free throw. It rolled around once or twice, but still went in. Homura and Kumagawa came up and gave me some high fives. I did my free throw routine once more and made the second free throw.

30-28

Hanakawa-senpai came up beside me. "Yo, keep on Eishiro. You're doing well. For now, stick to the game plan. And don't let him drive by you. As good as Tomoe is on offense, he's anything but a rim protector."

"I'll try my best. But I don't think I'll be able to do much to stop him from scoring." I said back to him.

"Well that's the plan. If Kodai wants to win, then it's going to be on Eishiro's shoulders and Eishiro's alone. He's going to do a Kobe and score 80 points before we lose to Kodai. But I don't think you'll do that bad a job. Now get back on defense!"

Eishiro was already at the left elbow when I got back on him. His eyebrows raised a tad when I stopped in front of him. I dropped down into a defensive stance and deliberately stood to the side a bit, hoping to force Eishiro to go to the right where Homura and I could possibly trap him. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw Homura shaking his head. As I was shifting my feet, Eishiro crossed-over right to left. My feet got tangled up and I fell to the ground.

I managed to stop myself from falling entirely to the ground and rushed to Eishiro. Then Eishiro stopped on a dime and my momentum carried me forward, skidding to a stop in front of him. I raised my hand in an attempt to contest Eishiro's fade away. Luckily for me, the shot clanked off the side of the rim.

But then Eishiro shot past me and tipped in his own missed shot.

30-30.

"Fuck!"

"Don't worry about it." Homura said. "Just get back on offense and get those points back. No use getting angry about something that we have no control over. Now, come and set me a screen." Homura curled around my screen and got the ball at the top of the three point line. I then slid over to the right elbow and set a back screen for Kumagawa.

After handing the ball off to Kumagawa, Homura made his way to the left corner. Kumagawa stood at the top of the key, holding the ball out to the side. _Another ISO play? I hope this works._ Guarding Kumagawa closely was Eishiro. I could see Kumagawa licking his lips in anticipation. "Hey, get ready to ass handed to ya?"

"Tch." Eishiro smirked. "In your dreams maybe. When I start to feel bad for you maybe."

"Oh we'll see. We'll see." Kumagawa spun out. Eishiro stuck to him like glue. Our sixth man went behind the back, temporarily losing Eishiro. In that one split second, Kumagawa drove to the rim. Kodai's power forward came over to help off of me. Kumagawa lost grip of the ball for just a second.

Eishiro reached in for a steal and Kumagawa split through both defenders and drove right up to the rim. The opposing center came up to contest the layup. Kumagawa brought the ball underneath the center's arm and up towards the rim. His pinky curled up towards the rim, giving the ball an extra bit of English, or spin. I'd heard from Yume that giving the ball more spin made it easier for the bank the ball in from awkward angles. And sure enough, the ball sunk into the basket.

32-30

Kodai's coach looked pissed. He quickly called a timeout. As I made my way to the bench, Yume gestured for me to sit down next to her. "You did a good job. Or at least you did the best you could. Eishiro was voted the second best high school player in the entire prefecture last year. Not many people would be able to slow him down."

I raised an eyebrow. "He's that good?"

Yume nodded. "Yeah. Even last year, we could barely stop him. I'd actually say he's on par with the Generation of Miracles." I looked towards Eishiro. "If you look right now, you probably won't believe me. He hasn't even used his special ability once. If he were, our chances of winning goes down from 60 percent, to zero."

"I see." I clenched my fists tightly. It seemed that geniuses of unparalleled skill would follow me wherever I go. No matter. I decided that I would stop running away. "Tell, what did I do right and what did I do wrong out there, Yume-chan." I asked her as the coach motioned for me to stay on the bench.

"Well…" Yume began. "For starters, you're doing very well on offense. Very smart. Making nice passes, setting screens for others and boxing out for the offensive rebound. Though, you could be a little more aggressive at times. There were some moments when you got a mismatch and didn't capitalize on it. And remember, when you're open, always call for the ball. Shoot or miss, it doesn't matter. Now on defense, you did very well actually. You didn't make the mistake that a lot of people do. Which is to stay parallel to the offensive player. On defense you usually want to be diagonal and shade the defender one particular way and dictate where they go. Of course when you go up against a great player or a team with good ball movement, it's harder to play defense. Something's that you did wrong on defense, is that you were ball watching a lot of times. Unless your man is just a potato on offense, you can't be caught ball watching because the person you're guarding could easily just cut to the basket. Which is why ball watching is something that we're going to have to work on. Because everyone knows how to make a wide open layup."

"Any tips on how to improve my on-ball defense?"

Six fingers were shoved in my face. "There are six things that I've observed over the years watching great defenders in the NBA. Players like Ron Artest, Bruce Bowen, Kobe, Kawhi Leonard, and PG13. I've also analyzed defensive legends like Sidney Moncrief, Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen, Michael Cooper and his Airness himself. Number one, and these aren't in any particular order, but you gotta stay low and strafe. That way you can get to the place the offensive player wants to go to before they do. Unless they're that much faster. Which I doubt."

She lowered one finger. "Next, keep them at an arm's length. I've noticed that it's the ideal distance to keep away from an offensive player. If you're too close, they'll blow right by you for the layup. Too far and they'll pull up for a jimmy. From all of the defensive highlights that I've watched from the best defenders ever, I've come to the conclusion that you usually want to be at an arm's length away."

"Number 3." Yume lowered a second finger. "Take short steps. Don't take long strides. Those take way too much time and make it tougher to defend someone driving to the basket. Fourth. Use your hands. There is the "deflection" hand, which as its name implies, deflects passes. And then then there is your "ball" hand, which you use to swipe at the ball, poke at the ball and just in general make the defensive player's life miserable. The deflection hand is usually high whilst the ball hand is low and close to the body."

"Number 5." Yume only had one finger left up "Swipe up. Swiping down is often called as a foul in the NBA, as it is a more aggressive. So swipe up on the ball. And last but not least, and possibly the most important key, is to know your man. Watch their film. Know all of their tendencies, where they like to shoot, their hot spots, cold spots, what plays are usually called for them. Which side of the floor they like to shoot from. And this doesn't just extend to the guy you're going to be guarding for the majority of the game. More often than not, the opposing team will try to switch you off of your man, so I'd advise you to do the same for everyone on the other team."

"Is there anything else that you'd like to add?"

"Actually yeah. There are some things that you won't really be able to teach someone. Things like instinct and intuition and athletic ability. Length, is king. Is you have long arms, you can contest shots easier and from farther away. Large hands make it easier to strip the ball from the ballhandler and to deflect passes and block shots. Another thing is lateral quickness. You can recover from crossovers and getting lost on defense much easier. Also, try not to leave your feet when contesting shots. Don't ever leave your feet unless you know for sure that they're going to be shooting the ball. Because once they get you in the air, they can either jump into you while shooting to get three free throws, or blow by you."

I scratched the side of my head. "That sounds like a lot to take in."

"That isn't even all of it. That's just the basics. If I wanted to get a little more in-depth, we'd take this to the gym. I haven't even gone over things like pick and roll defense all that."

My eyes found themselves fixed back onto the court where Eishiro was bringing the ball up. The score was still in our favour. If barely. 48-47 with a minute left to go before halftime. Yume tapped my shoulder and pointed at Hanakawa-senpai defending Eishiro. I took note of how he defended Kodai's ace. Low, in a stance, short steps and at an arm's length away.

Eishiro didn't care for the good defense that Senpai was playing on him however and pulled up for a three. Right in Hanakawa-senpai's face. It didn't matter how close Senpai was and how well contested the shot was. It still went in, giving Kodai a 2 point lead.

50-48

"Was that his special ability?" I asked Yume.

Yume shook her head. Homura was bringing the ball up the court. "If there's anyone on our team that can even just slightly match Eishiro, it's Reki-kun."

With the time winding down, Homura stood still, several steps in from the half court line, Eishiro on the three point line. Homura dribbled stationary until there was only a 6 seconds left on the clock. He posted up on Eishiro, Putting his back to Eishiro and began to back him down. The moment he reached the free three line, Homura faked one way and faded away the other.

The ball rolled around the rim several times before rolling out. The horn sounded in the gym. Just from Homura's body language, he clearly thought that he would get the buzzer beater and tie the game.

Most of the second and third years, as well as Yume and the coach seemed to be shocked that Homura didn't drill the jumper as well. Yume sighed. "Well…Least we have half an hour to change up our strategy."

 **So KD's a Warrior now…** **And Dwyane Wade's a Bull now too…**


End file.
